Trenton firefighters rescue stuck window washer

TRENTON — A window washer working on the Mary Roebling building on West State Street had to be rescued by Trenton firefighters after getting stuck between the eighth and ninth floor Monday afternoon.

Engines 1 and 10, Ladder 4 and Rescue 1 were called to the first block of West State Street around 4:00 p.m. to find the man dangling in his safety harness. The man was stuck due to a jam in his safety harness that left him unable to lower himself to the ground. Ladder 4 initially attempted to reach the man, but the ladder came up short.

“Our ladder is 100 feet long and he was about 20 feet higher than us,” Btl. Chief Ron Kosztyu said.

To get the man to safety, crews threw a safety line to him and set up a hauling system on the roof to pull him upwards.

“Since he was a window washer, he could do the rigging himself when we threw him a line,” Kosztyu said.

Initially, firefighters thought the worker was unconscious because he did not appear to be moving, but once the worker got on the roof, he said never lost consciousness, Kosztyu said.

After 45 minutes of hanging in his harness, the man was pulled to safety. There were no reported injuries.